that By Divine Right is the singular vision of guitarist/singer/songwriter Jose Contreras.

Supporting-cast members came and went from record to record, but it was always Contreras calling the shots. The just-finished, long-overdue BDR disc Good Morning Beautiful, due out this spring, takes that concept to its logical conclusion.

There is no illusion of a band. Instead, Contreras and close to a dozen friends plow through an hour's worth of often elegant, occasionally unkempt pop songs. With dozens of different personalities popping up, the temptation is to call it a Jose Contreras solo record, but the songwriter insists it's business as usual, even considering the fact that he had twice as many songs ready to go when he finally stopped recording after nine months.

"My band broke up five years ago, before anyone heard of us," he laughs. "After that I said to whoever was around, "Listen, if you want to do this, it's on my terms. If not, go do something else.'

Any time it got sticky I would just say it was time to move on. This is as much a By Divine Right record as the others."